The association between physical activity and academic procrastination among college students: the mediating role of self-efficacy and the moderating role of sleep quality

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the associations between physical activity and academic procrastination among college students within a cross-sectional framework while examining the mediating role of self-efficacy and the moderating role of sleep quality. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 428 college students from universities in Shanghai. Participants completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-S), the Academic Procrastination Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Data were analyzed using the PROCESS macro in SPSS 26.0 to test a moderated mediation model, adjusting for demographic covariates, including gender, age, academic major, academic year, only-child status, and geographic origin. (1) Physical activity was significantly and negatively associated with academic procrastination ( β  = −0.127, 95% confidence interval [CI] [−0.223, −0.031], p  < 0.05) and positively associated with self-efficacy ( β  = 0.200, 95% CI [0.103, 0.296], p  < 0.001). Self-efficacy was concurrently and negatively associated with procrastination ( β  = −0.235, 95% CI [−0.330, −0.142], p  < 0.001). (2) Self-efficacy accounted for a significant portion of the association between physical activity and academic procrastination, with a significant indirect effect of −0.047 (95% CI [−0.078, −0.019]), accounting for 27.01% of the total effect. (3) Sleep quality significantly moderated the association between physical activity and self-efficacy ( β  = −0.147, 95% CI [−0.236, −0.056], p  < 0.01) and the direct association between physical activity and academic procrastination ( β  = 0.147, 95% CI [0.058, 0.236], p  < 0.01). (4) Conditional process analyses revealed that the indirect effect via self-efficacy and the direct association with procrastination were significant only among students with average or good sleep quality, but not among those with poor sleep quality. The findings reveal significant concurrent associations among physical activity, self-efficacy, sleep quality, and academic procrastination. Self-efficacy partially accounted for the relationship between physical activity and procrastination. Crucially, sleep quality emerged as a critical boundary condition: the linkages between physical activity and reduced procrastination (both direct and indirect) were evident only when sleep quality was adequate. These results underscore the necessity of adopting a stratified approach in future interventions—targeting physical activity and self-efficacy for adequately rested students, while integrating sleep hygiene support for those with poor sleep—pending validation through longitudinal or experimental designs.